Paschal Donohoe looks to cool expectations on budget spend

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said that €2.6bn of the €3.2bn in additional spending for next year has already been spent, in a clear attempt to dampen expectation.

Mr Donohoe announced the Government’s stability programme update (SPU) yesterday and unexpectedly brought forward his projections for spending in 2019.

He said the budgetary projections reflect the decisions made in Budget 2018 and the recent National Development Plan.